Declarations – Midwest

Something Special

“Maybe we’ve done something special here. … Even in the middle of an election year, we can get something done.”

—Kansas Senator Pat Roberts, a Republican, comments on Senate passage of new U.S. farm legislation that would cut almost all traditional farm subsidies while expanding a costly crop insurance program. Passed by a 2-1 margin, the Senate’s $498 billion five-year farm bill would compensate growers when revenue from a crop falls, rather than prop up prices. It saves $23 billion by cutting crop subsidies, conservation funding and food stamps for the poor.

Struggling to Hire

The future looks ‘pretty rosy for us. … We can easily handle 100 or more hires out of high schools in a year.’

—Charles Goddard, president and CEO of Marinette Marine Corp. The defense contractor, one of northern Wisconsin’s largest employers, is struggling to recruit recent high school graduates for some of the region’s best-paying jobs. It has 40 open positions in its training program for welders and other shipyard jobs and has reached out to nine schools, but only seven recent graduates have applied. A typical employee at the shipyard can earn $30,000 to $40,000 a year, and more than $60,000 with overtime.

Bonding Through Adversity

“In my life, and I am sure in many of yours, the best relationships I have are formed during times of adversity, when things were hard and you worked together with somebody and got through it. … This is going to make our relationship even stronger.”

—Kent Fisher, vice president of supplier management for Boeing commercial airplanes, praised employees of Wichita, Kan.-based parts supplier Spirit AeroSystems for their recovery efforts after the plant was hit by a tornado April 14. Spirit never missed a shipping date to Boeing even though the storm damaged 40 buildings and 200 employees had to take refuge in storm shelters when the tornado hit.